Smoking releases numerous chemicals into your body. The consequences not only damage your lungs but also your heart and other organs of your body. Even though you have smoked for decades, you may reverse the effects and experience health benefits from the initial hours you Quit smoking. If you are thinking to stop smoking, you could be in dilemma due to a number of questions in your mind.
How Hard It Is To Quit Smoking?
If smoking is really bad for the health, why it is hard to quit smoking? It is difficult for different reasons:
- Highly Addictive – Nicotine
As nicotine is highly addictive and stimulates the pleasure centers in the brain. When there is the discontinuation of nicotine, the smoker experiences physical withdrawal symptoms that make the person intended to start smoking again to stop the symptoms of withdrawal. Every person has the experience to withdraw from nicotine addiction differently.
- Psychological aspects of Smoking
The social and behavioral aspects of using cigarettes are rewarding for the smoker. The smoking behavior is connected with the regular activities and “cues” like after the meal, while socializing with friends, consumption of alcohol just to “take a break”, under stress, for relaxation, etc.
The psychosocial behavioral aspects of smoking could be much challenging like overcoming a physical dependence.
- Genetic Predisposition
With the advancement of science, the effects of genetics have been seen to influence several health-related problems that were considered to be the domain of behavior only, like alcoholism.
It has been noticed that genetics influence distinct aspects of smoking like an urge to initiate smoking, continuing becoming a “smoker”, etc. This could explain the reason why some people cannot stand smoking at all. Some people may smoke just occasionally having an attitude of “leave it or take it”, some become regular smokers.
What happens when you quit smoking?
Your body starts changing after you smoke your last cigarette. Below are a few advantages of quitting smoking:
- Normal Blood Pressure
The blood pressure rises with the consumption of nicotine in cigarettes that enhances the risk of stroke or heart attack. However, the blood pressure starts to normalize after 20 minutes of smoking the last cigarette.
- Breathe Easily
The oxygen level of your body starts increasing within 8 hours of quitting smoking and your lung function starts improving. You could feel short of breath; cough less as your lungs start healing. This lowers your risk of developing cancer.
- Lowering the risk of developing cancer
As you decide to take the final puff, your risk of developing lung cancer reduces. Even the risk of getting caught by oesophageal, bladder, and pancreatic cancer also decreases.
- Better hair, skin, and nails
Your teeth and nails get stained due to smoking with a yellow film. It may also make your nails brittle and brings dullness to the skin. Quitting smoking enhances the blood flow, and makes your skin look much radiant and your smile looks brighter.
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How to help someone quit smoking
Before you intend to quit smoking, you must make a plan by talking to Stop Smoking Hypnosis or your doctor. They may point you in the direction of free resources available to stop smoking and make a plan.
Some steps to be taken to quit smoking are as follows:
- Throw away lighters, cigarettes, and ashtrays
By doing so, you will avoid the temptation. You may also ask your friends and family not to smoke when you are around.
- Replace the cravings
When you feel cravings, chew gum, drink water, or just go for a walk. Getting your mind off cravings may assist you to past them.
- Join any Smoking cessation group
Join a network of people who intend to quit smoking. These groups may boost your confidence and you will come to know that you are not alone in quitting. You may also join virtual groups online if you cannot find any support group.
- Go for Medication
Your doctor may advise you to take prescribed medicines if you require extra assistance to quit.
- Nicotine Replacement Therapies
To assist you to step down from nicotine, there are certain devices available to purchase like gum, nicotine patches, and inhalers.
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How Long does it take to Quit Smoking?
When you have stopped smoking, the nicotine will take about 72 hours to leave your body completely and the symptoms of withdrawal will come into effect after 2 to 3 days of quitting. Usually, these symptoms last for around 1-3 months after quitting, even though the symptoms such as low levels of energy and irritability could take a long time to go away than the others.
The effective cessation program has to consider the long adjustment period, the time period it takes your nicotine receptors to move back to normal. Due to this reason, you may find that the doctors advise weaning off nicotine slowly, with things such as nicotine replacement therapy, than simply going cold turkey. In conclusion, many people who intend to quit smoking will start feeling better after a week, and the symptoms will have disappeared within three months. So the average timescale for overcoming nicotine addiction is around 3 months.
Are you ready to commence your Stop-Smoking journey?
The first few weeks after quitting smoking are the hardest ones. It takes about eight to twelve weeks for an individual to start feeling more comfortable without having a puff. Stopping smoking for a lifetime is a quite challenging task; however, it is worth the effort.
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